VRE4YOU - Virtual Reality Experiences for Youth

<< Background >>The project was born from the desire of 3 European organizations to improve the educational and social offer of their territorydeveloping innovative digital practices for GMO inclusion. Numerous studies certify the effectiveness of VR in encouraginginformation, education and inclusion of GMOs. However, its use in the state of the art is still limitedfield of socio-educational animation. Plausibly, this leads to a poor use of VR in this fieldseveral factors:- lack of awareness of the potential of this tool;- the limited skills of YWs in the digital field and advanced technologies;- the mistaken belief that VR limits socialization and increases isolation;- costs related to the purchase of the equipment.The project reduces the incidence of the hindering factors mentioned above, contributing to:- improve the skills of YWs in the field of non-formal education mediated by VR at local, regional,national and European;- increase the number of youth organizations capable of integrating VR into non-formal education aimed at GMOs, alocal, regional, national and European level;<< Objectives >>GENERAL OBJECTIVE-Promote the digital transformation of socio-educational animation through exchange and cooperationtransnational among youth organizations.SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES-Promote youth workers (YWs) skills to integrate Virtual Reality (VR) into non-formal educationaimed at young people with fewer opportunities (GMO);-Promote the involvement of GMOs through non-formal education mediated by VR.RESULTS-Increase in YWs able to use VR in non-formal education aimed at GMOs at local, regional,national and European;-Increasing GMOs involved in innovative and cutting-edge educational and social opportunities at organizationsyouth at local, regional, national and European levels.<< Implementation >>The following activities were carried out during the project:- transnational research activities in order to identify techniques and ways of using virtual reality in a social and non-formal context- creation of a manual that collects the state of the art of VR uses- LTTA in Norway for a comparison and exploration of contents in the VR field and creation of a toolkit for the use of tools in a socially inclusive field- a pilot test to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of structured hubs starting from practices, theories and techniques investigated in previous activities- multiplier events for the dissemination of the project and its results<< Results >>The tangible results of the project, which will be made public and accessible to European organizations, are:A manual that includes:1) an analysis of the state of the art on the use of virtual reality in the field of non-formal education;2) a legislative framework regulating the use of virtual reality with young people;3) a theoretical framework for the use of VR in the field of non-formal education with GMOs;4) a national and international collection of VR Apps available on the market in the educational and social fields;5) a methodological proposal based on the integration of virtual reality in the field of non-formal education with GMOs, whosethe name will be VR-Experience Corner.A toolkit that includes both a teaching methodology and operational guidelines forthe integration of virtual reality in non-formal education aimed at GMOs.